Head of Employment

Job description

Job title: Head of

Job purpose:

The purpose of the post is to work with the Director of Legal Services to plan, develop and deliver a comprehensive employment law advice service for the Association’s members.

Reports to: Director of Legal and Regulatory Services

Responsible for: Employment Solicitor and [Employment] Paralegal

Directorate:

This directorate assists, defends and represents members in a variety of forums including but not limited to the GOC, NHSE and High Court proceedings

Duties and key responsibilities

Planning

Provide direction and consistency to the Employment law advice provision of AOP, through effective working with staff
Manage the operational performance of the Employment law advice service
Ensure measures are in place to attract the members who are most in need of and can most benefit from our employment law advice services
Ensure measures are in place to enable members’ issues to be correctly diagnosed and assessed
Ensure that any members who cannot be assisted by any of our services are appropriately referred or signposted in line with agreed procedures.
With the Director of Legal services, develop, review and implement changes where appropriate to AOP core business processes to ensure the effective and consistent delivery of services.
Develop strong working relationships within and outside of the organisation
Promote and develop the employment law advice service to members of the organisation
Prepare, maintain and deliver know-how materials including articles, presentations, updates, amendments and additions to website where appropriate

Management

Provide leadership and professional development across Employment law function.
Promote a culture that reflects our values and encourages productivity
Provide management and supervision to an employment solicitor and an employment paralegal
Monitor the quality of advice provided and data recorded.

Employment Law Advice and representation

Manage and provide a comprehensive employment law advice service to members by email, telephone and face to face.
Respond to members’ employment law queries promptly and effectively
Maintain an active caseload, including contentious and non-contentious matters. Maintain case records within a legal document management system ensuring they meet Law society requirements.
Carry out complex casework and research.
Ensure members are assisted with and prepared for forthcoming disciplinary and grievance hearings.
Maintain case records and check standards of case recording across the team
Oversee collation of reporting information
Supervise the allocation of cases and work within the team.
Liaise promptly and effectively with external solicitors, counsel and trade union representatives where required.

General responsibilities

Be proactive in keeping up to date with developments affecting your work at hand and maintain and improve personal competence through continuous professional development.
Be proactive in keeping up to date with wider AOP activities and strategy.
Operate within organisational policies, codes of conduct and practice and work collaboratively with staff across the association.
Contribute to team meetings and organisational priorities, strategic goals and Performance targets
Be flexible and carry out other associated duties as may arise, develop or be assigned within the broad remit of the post.

Person Specification

Experience

Significant recent experience as a solicitor specialising in employment law and of giving contentious and non-contentious employment law advice
Experience of managing professional staff, delegating and monitoring the work of others to achieve objectives

Skills and abilities

Clear verbal communication skills face to face and on the phone including the ability to communicate clearly and assertively with a wide range of people
Giving detailed and complex advice to clients in a clear and accessible format
Analytical, prioritising and decision making skills
A facilitative approach to management with the capacity to coach and develop professionals
Plan and manage a complex workload, meet deadlines and respond to unplanned demands
Ability to liaise and communicate with a wide variety of people and organisations
Ability to read complex information, summarise and to present complex information
Clear writing and drafting skills with emphasis on accuracy in letters, calculations, preparing cases, opinions, reports and correspondence
Persuasion, negotiation, advocacy and diplomatic skills
Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook
Self-motivated with ability to work alone but can also work co-operatively as part of the legal team
Highly organised with an ability to maintain effective record keeping systems
Highly developed networking, partnership skills
Legal research skills to include summarising and tailoring advice to fit the members’ specific needs

Knowledge

Comprehensive and up to date knowledge of employment law
How to assess risk management in cases
Clear understanding of professional integrity and confidentiality in delivering advice

Education/training

A law degree or equivalent conversion course plus legal postgraduate course.
Qualified solicitor with significant relevant experience

Personal attributes and other requirements:

Self-motivated, ability to juggle priorities and work both alone and part of a team
Support the director in providing energy and direction to the team
Flexible and adaptable with the ability to work in a changing environment and manage multiple work activities, projects and deadlines
Change focused to strive to review and improve service delivery where possible
Committed to achieving a high-quality service with good attention to detail
Committed to personal development through actively developing this role and the team as a whole
Confident and assertive whilst approachable and client friendly

To apply

If you are interested in applying for this position, please send a covering letter, explaining your suitability for the role, and your CV to [email protected].

September 2019